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E-mail This StoryRowlett property owners face no property tax increase as the Rowlett City Council continues to fine tune its 2008-2009 budget.
For the fourth straight year, the rate will remain at .747173 per $100 valuation, said Brian Funderburk, director of administrative services.
However, homeowners are likely to see a slight increase in their tax bills as property values rose by about 1.5 percent, he said.
The proposed budget for the upcoming year will be $80.5 million, which represents a reduction of $1.2 million or 1.4 percent less than the adopted budget for current year, Funderburk said.
The reduction stems slow economic growth, he said.
“We have several challenges. “We have not hit same revenues as in years past,” he said. “We’re facing the same issues that are at the national and even the state level, though Texas is though riding the storm better. Our property tax increases very modest, and our sales taxes, though higher, the rate of growth has declined.”
With the budget scheduled to be approved on Sept. 16, the city council is still hammering how to compensate its public safety staff.
Initially excluded from the first budget draft, several council members have asked for a tenure pay plan for the police and fire departments, a measure that Mayor John Harper said he adamantly opposes.
Harper said that the city cannot afford the plan and that the ensuring raise n as much as 8 percent for some n would not be fair to the rest of the city personnel who are likely to see only a 4 percent raise.
However, Councilmen Chris Kilgore, who was elected to his seat in the spring, said tenure pay is necessary to retain senior officers and firefighters who often leave for communities that offer higher pay. Councilman Doug Phillips echoed Kilgore’s stance.
Funderburk said that the city’s entry-level pay is competitive with other communities. However, it takes years n sometimes as long as a decade n for officers and firefighters to reach the top of their rank’s pay scale.
A tenure plan, which is based on years of service, would enable officers and firefighters to reach the top of their rank’s pay grade in about six years, he said.
“This recognizes that we’re loosing a lot of our veterans,” Funderburk said. “At the entry level, they’re unlikely to go to another city, but if here for five years and they’re only on step three, but go Garland or Frisco and be at step five, it’s worthwhile for them to consider. We want to de-incentivize employees wanting to leave.”
Funding capital improvement projects from the general budget is another sticking point.
The budget already calls for $3.2 million to pay in cash for smaller road projects, however during Tuesday’s work session, Councilman Steve Maggiotto said that the number needs to be higher.
Funderburk said paying for some projects in cash, which the city began doing last year, allows the it to quickly complete smaller projects without selling bonds.
“Rather than picking one street for reconstruction, we can spend that $2-3 million and do a lot more work,” he said. “Actually we spent $4-5 million last year and got a ton of streets done. Some are only asphalt and we’ll have to look at them again in 10 years, but for now, they’re dramatically improved.”
One big-ticket item missing from the budget is a major Fourth of July festival.
Funderburk said that instead of a large-scale concert at Pecan Grove Park, the city will host smaller events along Main Street.
Even though the budget is tight, the chain is driven more out of logistics than economics.
“While the economy is an issue, there are other factors, such as construction of the [President George Bush] turnpike. Its construction has the potential to disrupt the festival. We’d have a hard time getting people down there.”
The budget also calls for a new deputy city marshal who will be responsible for serving warrants for outstanding traffic tickets.
“We will be adding a deputy city marshal to take care of the outstanding warrants we have not been able to get to,” Funderburk said. “We need to get cases cleared off the docket.”
The budget, however, will not fund R.O.C.K., a program the municipal judge uses to help keep local youth stay out of trouble.
Funderburk noted that one of the biggest changes in this year’s budget process was the lack of public participation. In years past he said, hearings for last for hours. This year, they were over in seconds.
“Nobody came to public hearings,” he said.
